Marshfield airport officials say planes will descend at same angle despite new technology

Monday

Aug 18, 2014 at 12:58 PM

The airport this fall will start offering localizer performance with vertical guidance, or LPV. This technology provides the highest-precision approach, or series of maneuvers that aircrafts use to land.

Jessica Trufant The Patriot Ledger @JTrufant_Ledger

MARSHFIELD -- While neighbors of the town airport fear new aviation tools installed at George Harlow Field will allow planes to fly in lower to the ground and their homes, officials say pilots will descend the same as they al ways have in normal conditions.

The newly reopened runway at Marshfield Municipal Airport was shifted 190 feet west of the previous surface, widened by 25 feet and extended 300 feet as part of the $15.34 million improvement project. An additional 300 feet of safety buffer was added at each end, providing 3,600 feet for takeoffs and 3,300 feet for landings.

New runway and taxiway lights were installed on the ground, as well as precision approach path indicator navigational aids to show pilots they’re on the correct glide path.

The airport this fall will start offering localizer performance with vertical guidance, or LPV. This technology provides the highest-precision approach that aircraft can use to land.

An LPV approach allows planes to descend safely in low visibility conditions. Without such capabilities, pilots flying in poor weather might have to land at an alternate another airport.

The Federal Aviation Administration provided an $11.34 million grant for improvements to the town-owned airport, which is managed by Shoreline Aviation. The state pitched in $1.4 million, and voters at a special town meeting in 2011 approved $200,000.

Residents who voiced concerns over low-flying planes at an air port commission meeting Tuesday night said they fear the new instrument approach will allow pilots to come in lower to the ground – be fore they can visually see the runway – rather than descending more sharply.

Wilson Road resident Joseph Pecevich said the FAA publishes charts of the runway that indicate how air traffic is supposed to proceed at the airport.

“It will say, ‘your altitude should be such and such at this distance from airport,’” Pecevich said. “When you do the math, for every 20 feet laterally, you de scend 1 foot, but this new system will allow 1 foot for every 34 feet laterally, so it’s a flatter, slower decline over our homes.”

He said the approach could allow larger, heavier jets to approach the airport lower than before.

But Dave Dinneen, manager of the airport, said Thursday the new approaches will change the descent only for aircraft flying in bad weather.

“On a beautiful, sunny day, they are the same as they have always been,” he said. “Under normal conditions, it’s a 3 percent glide slope, and it has not changed at all.”

An FAA spokesperson said the agency has developed four new approach procedures that will be avail able for use Sept. 18. Specifics on the approaches were not available.

Now that the runway has been shifted, Dinneen said planes should actually be coming in higher.

“The (precision approach path indicator) instruments are actually helping make it make consistent,” he said. “The whole reason for the project as we’ve stated for 14 years is about safety and bringing the airport up to the standards of the FAA.”